Sunday, 15 May 2011

It’is aspecial forces unit of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Due to the nature of crime in favelas, BOPE units have extensive experience in urban warfare as well as progression in confined and restricted environments(missions transported by helicopters, missions in jungle and mountain environments, and missions using explosives). It also utilizes equipment deemed more powerful than traditional civilian law enforcement.

Current Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Wilman René Gonçalves Alonso

The physical structure of the urban battlefield affects the use of weapons and their calibers, and in the case of Rio de Janeiro, this is an aggravating factor, since an undeclared war is being fought against an internal enemy by a public-safety and paramilitary force. According to their rules of engagement, the state-authorized police cannot respond with the same intensity and firepower that the criminals use. This is due in part to the Army’s veto on the acquisition of higher-caliber weapons, such as .50-caliber, needed to destroy the fortifications built by the bandits. In order to stop the police, the drug dealers have reinforced walls and balconies with concrete, adding loopholes from which to shoot, justifying the need for higher-caliber weapons. The BOPE basically uses 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm caliber rifles in its actions.

Motto and Logo "Faca na Caveira" ("Knife In The Skull")

A BOPE assault team usually operates with 8 men. In front of the group is always the point man. His job is to open up the way, and communicate with his group by using signals. The commander or captain is always the third on in the group. BOPE also have a Tactical Intervention Unit. Those are BOPE soldiers who are negotiaters, snipers or other soldiers with special skills like detonating bombs.

Size: 400 officers

The reality faced by the police in the Rio slums is similar to that faced by NATO troops in Afghanistan. The resistance posed by the Taliban, whose asymmetric war actions are sponsored by the lucrative poppy business, approximates Kabul to Rio de Janeiro. Nowadays, the risks faced by a Western citizen when walking in certain areas of the Afghan capital are the same of those of a police officer or a member of the military in the volatile zones of the capital of Rio de Janeiro state.

Vehicles

Pacificador

These vehicles are used in operations in the slums (favelas) where BOPE faces intense conflicts with heavily armed drug dealers